


Cold Water

by envyfangirl



Series: Slash_100 challenge [6]
Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Drowning, Fear, M/M, Redemption, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8954629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/envyfangirl/pseuds/envyfangirl
Summary: Daniel redeems his mistake when he comes back for Dylan.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This will be 100 fics starring J. Daniel Atlas and paired with various others.
> 
> Written for the Slash_100 challenge.  
> Prompt: #80. Redemption.

The pier was silent when the Four Horsemen arrived. Daniel didn't wait for Merrit to stop the car before he threw the door open and hurried outside. He was quickly followed by Jack, Lula and Merrit, all of them anxious to find Dylan, alive and well.  
  
Daniel's hand twitched against his side. Whatever trouble had befallen Dylan, whatever pains he received; it would be his fault. Daniel was the one who betrayed Dylan. Daniel was the one who pushed Dylan away, Daniel was the one Dylan saved while being captured himself. His insides clenched painfully.  
  
The water was still rippling ominously from where something heavy plunged in.  
  
Lula's quivering voice asked, "You don't think they--"  
  
Daniel's blood turned to ice. "He would." Walter Mabry was a sadistic piece of shit. There was nothing he wouldn't do.  
  
Without thinking Daniel dived into the freezing water. If he was too late, if Dylan was dead-- Fear seized hold of Daniel as he pushed his body through the icy water. His couldn't feel his fingers anymore. He could barely  _see_ his fingers in the dark. The cold seeped through his clothes and into his bones. All of that didn't matter. Please let him be on time.  
  
It felt like an insanely long time before he reached the bottom, but which was no time at all. He saw the safe, open and outside it-- His heart stopped. A figure slumped just outside the vault. Oh dear God,  _no_!  
  
Daniel's hands sunk themselves into Dylan's shoulders, holding fast. With an almighty push against the bottom, Daniel shot up back toward the surface.Just a bit more, Daniel thought, his legs kicking against the water. Just a bit more...  
  
Daniel broke the surface, dragging Dylan with him out of the water. The others helped him get him onto dry land. He flopped bonelessly onto the ground. He wasn't breathing.  
  
"Dylan!" Both Lula and Merrit called out his name.  
  
He wasn't breathing. He wasn't moving. He wasn't--  
  
Daniel leaned over him, looking for a sign of life. He couldn't die. Not now.  
  
"Dylan, come on, buddy, breathe." Jack's words echoed Daniel's own thoughts.  
  
Daniel wouldn't let him die. Both of them were too stubborn for that to happen.  
  
"Dylan?" Lula's voice wavered. He could hear the fear, the doubt, the slowly acsending despair.  
  
Daniel pressed on Dylan's chest, hoping beyond hope that that would do the trick.  
  
"Dylan?"  
  
"Come on."  
  
A burst of water escaped Dylan's mouth, followed by a gasp. Daniel couldn't remember ever hearing a more beautiful sound. Dylan was disoriented. He could hear it in Dylan's heavy breathing, he could see it in the way his eyes darted over all their faces. First Jack's, then Merrit's, Lula's... and then his.  
  
Daniel tried to express in just one look how very, very sorry he was, and how grateful he was that he made it in time to fix his mistake. At least one of his mistakes. He knew he was a far shot away from redemption, but it was a start.  
  
"Jesus." Jack said. "You scared the hell out of us, man."  
  
 "You alright, bro?" Merrit asked.  
  
Daniel hadn't said anything since he jumped into the water. He was afraid of how shaky his voice would sound if he did. As Dylan scrabbled to get upright, Daniel assisted, one hand on his shoulder. Once Dylan was up he patted it, as a welcome back, good you're alive sort of thing.  
  
Dylan copied it, clapsing Daniel's shoulder. He turned his eyes on him, and with more grattitude than Dainel felt he deserved said, "Thank you."  
  
"Well, it was the-- the least I could do." His voice cracked. He knew it would've.  
  
Dylan shook his head. "No, There's a helluva lot less you could have done."  
  
Before Daniel could even begin to open his mouth Lula said fiercely, "No. That was  _not_ an option." Daniel's sentiments exactly. He whole-heartedly agreed with Lula.  
  
Merrit and Jack continued along that line, reassuring Dylan that he had done far more for them than they could pay back.  
  
Daniel could still not utter a single word. Getting out that one sentence had been a real struggle. He did want to. He wanted to say how much Dylan meant to him, how much he  _did_  need him.  
  
Daniel startled when he felt Dylan's hand back on his arm. "Thank you for pulling me out, seriously."  
  
Luckily Lula answered, so he didn't have to. "You got yourself out.  We just did the easy part. Literally, all I did was stand here on the shore while Atlas jumped down and got you."  
  
Daniel couldn't help but crack a smile. Even Dylan managed one. Leave it to Lula to lighten the mood. Daniel had to remind himself to thank her later.  
  
With at least their hearts a fraction lighter they walked back to the car, the engine still running, and made their way back to the oldest magic shop in the world. Now that the immediate danger and stress had disappated from Daniel his mind was free to scheme the best way to make Walter Mabry and Arthur Tressler pay for what they did. And unlike them, J. Daniel Atlas would make sure it succeeded.


End file.
